Liberal Democrat membership surging with 'one person a minute joining' following party's pledge to fight Brexit

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

People are joining the Liberal Democrats at a rate of one a minute following leader Tim Farron’s committment to fight to rejoin the EU.

The party reports over 10,000 people have joined the party since Mr Farron made the announcement, pushing its total membership above 70,000.

In a statement the Liberal Democrats said people “have been joining the only UK party to continue to fight for our EU future”.

The party claims some of its new members voted Leave during the referendum but were appalled “by the economic and political chaos that has followed, as well as the broken promises of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage.”

They quoted an unnamed supporter who said he had turned his back on the Conservatives as he can “never again support a party prepared to play roulette with the country’s future”.

Mr Farron said: “I don’t blame those who were duped: I blame those who lied. If the Conservatives had a shred of decency, they would set about fixing the economy they broke.

“Yet the Chancellor shrugs that it is not his responsibility to have a Brexit plan – even though he and David Cameron were the brains behind this risky referendum – while Boris Johnson has sounded, perhaps more predictably, clueless.”

Mr Farron was one of several speakers who addressed a “London Stays” protest in Trafalgar Square where thousands of young people gathered to protest against the Brexit vote.

The Leave side narrowly won the referendum on Britain’s continued EU membership with 52 per cent of the vote.

Remain supporters, dubbed “the 48 per cent”, have called for a second referendum after they accused both Leave campaigns of misleading the public.

It comes after several Leave voters have come forward saying they regretted their vote and would vote for Remain if given a second chance.

London, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted Remain, but the rest of England and Wales, which has a greater combined population, voted to leave.